Spot the Gadgets in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

In honor of Star Wars Month, I volunteered to painstakingly watch all six Star Wars movies and compile a list of gadget-like devices I spot in each one. I can promise you I will miss a few and I won’t know what some of them are supposed to be called, but I’ll be damned if I don’t watch all six episodes of one of the greatest film franchises of all time in the name of “work.”

And so we dance.

02:42 – Viper Probe Droid

If not for the Viper probe droid, the Rebel Alliance would still be safely plotting and planning some sort of plot-like rebellious plan on the ice world of Hoth. Instead (and lucky for us viewers), one of the Vipers alerted the Empire to the Rebels’ presence and all sorts of wonderful hell broke loose.

03:13 – TD1.4 Electrobinoculars

Oh, look who learned some of the actual names of stuff after you guys yelled at me for making everything up for the first four episodes. I owe it all to Wookieepedia, which lists these binoculars as belonging to the Galactic Empire. These ones must have fallen off a space truck and into Rebel hands.

03:24 – Wrist-worn Comlink

Geez, we’re not even five minutes in and it’s like Gadget Fest 2K10 already. Luke does his best Dick Tracy impression by contacting Carlos Spicy Weiner Han Solo on his handy wrist-mounted comlink.

10:30 – R2-D2’s Location Sensor

Try as he might, R2 just can’t locate Luke due to whiteout conditions. Even worse, his ability to pull in DirecTV totally fails, which forces everyone inside the Rebel base to “read” and “talk to each other” all night.

11:17 – Portable Scanner

Han uses an old school portable scanning device to locate Luke. Years later they’d laugh, saying, “Remember those old scanners that had the two huge antennas and you had to wear the thing around your neck?!” while updating Space Twitter on their cool handheld scanners.

17:15 – Kissing Siblings

Not a gadget at all but, man, is this going to be awkward later. Take it from someone who’s adopted; you really never know when you might be kissing your own sister. You really… never… know.